Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and its characters. I own a broken microwave that turned itself on and caught on fire. I swear there are haunts in my house. No copyright infringement intended.


Previously, in Chapter One...

Whipping my head, I screamed out in alarm, gripping my towel tightly to my chest as I met the eyes of a man sitting comfortably in a chair I kept beside a tiny old bookshelf in my room. The man was sitting with one leg crossed over the other, dressed in a smart, expensive looking grey suit with a pink silk tie. My well-worn copy of Emily Dickenson poetry lay open on his lap. As he brought the book down from in front of his face, I was close enough to see that he'd been reading a page that I'd dog-eared. The man was disgustingly handsome, but not the in the obvious way. He had very sharp details such as high cheek bones and a slightly flat nose. His hair was an odd copper-penny color and was in disarray as though he'd run his hands through it many times.

But his most interesting feature were his eyes, those vivid Mississippi pine colored eyes.


CHAPTER TWO: MEMPHIS MADNESS

I shrieked in surprise, reaching for the old box lamp that rested on my chipped oak nightstand. Reaching for the switch, the room illuminated in a soft, yellow light, and my gaze snapped back to the old green wing-back chair I'd inherited from my grandmother, only to find it empty. Trembling, I clutched the comforter tightly to my chest, my head jerking around the room in confusion. Stumbling out of the bed, I wrapped the comforter tighter around me and crept out of my bedroom.

Entering the main area of the apartment, my eyes swept over the room; no Edward Cullen in sight. Creeping towards the kitchenette, I grabbed a large butcher knife from the knife block and walked slowly to the bathroom. I envisioned my intruder crouching in the shower, waiting to jump out at me as soon as the bathroom door opened. I grabbed the handle with a shaky hand and turned it slowly, causing an eerie creaking sound to fill the room. Shuddering, I reached into the dark room, fumbling for the light switch. Flicking on the light, I entered the bathroom...and screamed.

My reflection stared back at me nervously. Stupid mirror! My eyes were wild and bore dark shadows beneath them and my brown hair looked like a rat had been nesting in it. Leaning against the sink, I stared into the mirror taking in a ragged breath, my head swimming with questions.

Why did Edward Cullen chase me down the street? Surely the man in the chair had been a hallucination. There was no one in the apartment but me! My eyes lit up as an idea crossed my mind. Maybe this was all a stupid dream and I'm just waking up. If it had been a dream there would be no physical evidence of last night. My face lit up and I turned to the trash can tucked in beside the commode. My face fell as I noticed the bloody clothes shoved into it. A shudder rippled through my body. The incident at the store did happen.

I thought carefully of how I'd turned my head and scrambled for the lamp. Had that been long enough for someone to get out of my room and out of the apartment? It couldn't have; I had fumbled with the lamp for just a couple of seconds. As I continued to ponder my sanity, the silence in the apartment was broke by a sudden banging sound, making me jerk in terror.

"Bella?" a soft, muffled voice called out.

My body slumped in relief at the sound. I returned the knife to the knife block and made my way to the apartment door. My hand froze on the knob as I realized the door was in fact locked, but not deadbolted. After carefully glancing through the peephole, I yanked the door open to find my friend and neighbor, Angela, standing in the corridor, a worried expression on her pretty face.

Angela was tall and thin with dark features. She wore a pair of trendy, yet studious frames on the end of her delicate nose, and her forehead was wrinkled in concern. Angela's son, Eric, sat on her left hip babbling away. I smiled automatically upon seeing him.

"I heard a scream," she explained, taking in my half-naked appearance and overall disarray. She peered over my shoulder into my apartment and then back at me, cocking her head to the side in need of an explanation.

"Come in," I muttered as she slid past me.

Sticking my head in the corridor, I glanced first left and then right, but saw no one. Shutting the door and locking it safely behind me, I turned back to Angela who was still staring at me in concern.

"Let me grab some clothes and I'll be right back. Make yourself at home," I told her.

She nodded, and I walked to my bedroom closing the door softly behind me. I quickly changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top, threw my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head, and rejoined Angela.

"I think I'm going crazy," I admitted, flopping beside her on my old worn brown couch and scrubbing my face tiredly.

Eric continued to babble, slobber running down his chin and onto the bib that Angela kept there for just that purpose. Eric was teething and he drooled constantly. He reached for me with his chubby arms and began pouting, his cute face scrunched up the way it did right before he would burst into tears. I reached for him and he lit up like a Christmas tree. Angela handed him to me, and he began lightly patting my cheeks with his chubby little hands causing me to giggle.

"Why's that?" Angela asked curiously, pushing her glasses back up her nose. She still wore the baby blue scrubs and squeaky white shoes required of the nursing assistants at the nursing home where she worked.

I told how I'd come home from work and became overwhelmed with a severe ice cream craving. She nodded, understanding of my 'problem' with ice cream. Then I gave her a brief rundown of everything that happened earlier that morning in the grocery store. Her almond-shaped eyes grew wider and wider, looking as though they would pop out of their sockets at any time. I ran my hands across the top of Eric's head during the story, playing with his short, dark curls. When I explained how I had awoken to find Edward Cullen in my room, Angela just about fell off the couch.

"Oh my God, Bella!" she exclaimed, jumping up from the couch and throwing her hands up in excitement. Eric turned to look at his mother and started laughing and clapping his hands. "You're the Breakaway Beauty?" she exclaimed reverently, literally slapping the palms of her hands to her face as she stared at me with a look of realization. A ball of dread began forming in the pit of my stomach as I shifted nervously on the couch.

"What do you mean by Breakaway Beauty?" I asked, although I had a feeling that I already knew the answer.

Angela quickly grabbed my laptop from the small desk near the only window that graced my living room, and sat back down beside me on the couch. After waiting impatiently for it to boot up, she hurriedly typed away in the search engine window and then clicked the link to the local news station. The same news logo popped up that I had seen splashed on the side of the van that was at the grocery store. The ball of dread in my stomach suddenly turned into a boulder.

"Okay, here it is! You've gotta watch this," Angela instructed, holding the laptop so that we could both easily view it.

The screen was black, and that stupid little wheel that I hated starting whirling, and then suddenly there was reporter Helmet-Head wearing a bright red suit that matched her tacky red lipstick. Instead of standing in front of the store however, she was sitting behind a shiny wood desk, a backdrop of the Mississippi river flowing behind her. The muddy river was lit up with boats drifting slowly through the water. In the distance was the Hernando de Soto bridge glowing prettily from the two hundred lights that adorned the double arches of steel.

Reporter Helmet-Head's face was a mask of seriousness. "Good afternoon. I'm Tonya Walls. Our top story of the day is a bizarre one, folks. Shortly after two a.m., Shelby County Police arrived at Bean's Family Grocery, an age-old grocery store just outside of downtown Memphis. Inside the store, two armed assailants demanded cash from the cashier and customers, and then took hostages.

"Now here's where things get interesting, folks. Inside the store was Alice Cullen, daughter of CEO and Chairman of Cullen Corporation and alleged crime boss, Carlisle Cullen. Also in the store was Rosalie Hale, daughter of Tennessee Senator John Hale. Shelby County Police were tight-lipped about what happened inside, but one eye-witness gives us his first hand account."

The video changed and now showed a young man who looked vaguely familiar. He had close-cropped brown hair and pale blue eyes which were round in seriousness. "I was in the store when the guys came in," he confirmed, shoving his hands in his pockets nervously, his eyes darting to the camera and back to the reporter.

"These two guys in masks barged in and told us to hit the floor, so we did. One of the guys grabbed this girl and pulled her to the back of the store into an office. He had a gun. I thought he was going to kill her! They were gone for a while and then this other girl crawled to the front of the store and jumped on the other robber while he was digging out cash from the register. She was so quick and tiny that he didn't see her coming! She grabbed the gun that he'd left on the counter while he was filling his bag with money, and hit him right here with the butt of it," the guy pointed to his right temple.

"And then what happened, sir?" reporter Helmet-Head asked, thrusting the microphone closer to his face.

He frowned at her momentarily and then continued. "Well, then the guy slumped to the floor and the girl, Alice Cullen, she and her two friends ran to the back, and the next thing I know cops flooded the store."

"What happened to the young lady that was forced into the back of the store?" Helmet-Head asked, turning momentarily to look seriously at the camera and then back to the man. Police cars stood behind him with their lights flashing dramatically.

"She came out with the other three, and she came out covered in blood," he said, running a hand anxiously through his short hair. "She talked to a cop and walked out of the store. Then the paramedics came in with a stretcher, and I saw the guy who grabbed her come back through on that stretcher. She beat the crap out of that guy! The cops told us to step outside. That's when I saw all the commotion, and someone told me that the girl ran away and Edward Cullen took off after her."

The screen changed again back to Helmet-Head sitting behind the desk. "You heard him right, folks. The unidentified female victim, who we have briefly on film, ran from the scene of the crime for unknown reasons. Edward Cullen, son of Carlisle Cullen, alleged crime boss and the CEO and Chairman of Cullen Corporation, gave chase after the girl, only to return to the scene of the crime minutes later. Mr. Cullen declined to comment on camera about why he chased the girl, but a representative for Mr. Cullen did return our calls and gave the following statement: Mr. Cullen's sister was just one of several victims of a terrible robbery attempt that hopefully left everyone unharmed. Unfortunately, one of the victims fled the scene before receiving proper medical attention. She was obviously in a state of panic after being assaulted. Mr. Cullen was simply concerned with her physical and mental well-being.

"Eyewitnesses describe the young lady in her late teens or early twenties. She is about five feet, four inches tall, around one hundred and twenty pounds, with long brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a white blouse, blue jeans, and brown boots. Locals describe her as being very pretty and have given her the nickname Breakaway Beauty. News Channel Five was on the scene and has a brief clip of the woman," the reporter boasted.

I gulped as the screen changed again, and there I was standing frozen in front of the store just over the reporter's shoulder. Someone had zoomed in on me post-recording, but thankfully the image of me was mostly a blur, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

The camera then panned to Edward and Alice embracing. Chill bumps erupted all over my body at the sight of Edward. He was handsome, even with his face etched in worry as he released his sister from their embrace. He held her by her shoulders staring intently into her eyes. I could see her mouth moving and could vaguely make out what she said before she pointed at me. The cameraman then tried to zoom in on where Alice pointed, but the video had become momentarily unfocused and all I could see was the back of my own body as I broke away through the crowd, and then Mr. Cullen chasing after me.

"The two assailants in this crime were transported by ambulance and police escort to the Memphis Emergency Department where they received treatment for minor injuries and were then released into police custody. They are now charged and awaiting arraignment.

"Anyone with information on the Breakaway Beauty is encouraged to contact the Shelby County Police. Mr. Edward Cullen is also offering a cash reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the woman," the reporter finished. The blurry image they'd captured of me flashed across the screen with the police department's phone number below it. I cringed.

Angela snapped the laptop shut and placed it back on the coffee table. She took Eric, who'd become restless now that he couldn't watch the colors flashing across the laptop screen. She bounced him on her knee, stared at me sympathetically, and murmured, "Oh, Bella, why did you run? What have you gotten yourself into? Edward Cullen is a monster! Money laundering, bribery, racketeering, prostitution, and murder are just a few of the things he's been accused of. Now he's looking for you. People like Edward Cullen, they don't stop until they get what they want, and apparently he wants you."


Beta'd on 07/28/13 by AliCat0623 AKA my witchy bFF. I love her, but she blows.